With the advent of more robust mobile electronic systems, advancements of handheld communication devices are becoming more prevalent. Handheld communication devices can provide a variety of functions including, for example, telephonic, electronic messaging and other personal information manager (PIM) application functions. Handheld communication devices include mobile stations such as simple cellular telephones, smart telephones, wireless PDAs, wired PDAs, and reduced-sized laptop computers.
Such handheld communication devices allow the user to enter data into text messages, email messages, address books, calendars, task lists, and other similar text files. To facilitate the operation of the devices, buttons and keypads are used. Typically, such buttons and keys extend out of openings and are elevated with respect to the surfaces of the devices. As a result, the openings provide a conduit for foreign material, such as liquids or dust, to enter the devices. In addition, during manufacturing of the devices, the buttons and keypads are constructed using a plurality of components which can require precision manufacturing and assembly. Imprecision can lead to a loss of tactility due to misalignment of the multiple parts, noisy buttons, or any combination thereof.